October Can't Read Your Paycheck

Years from now, there will be a manager faced with a dilemma over what to do with a star player during the playoffs. He will be someone whose name, salary and stature command the utmost respect. But his performance will be dreadful, perhaps shockingly so, to the point of making him a liability. Let's call the player Albert P.

And if this manager is smart, he will look back at the fall of 2012 and draw one valuable lesson from his predecessors: Don't be afraid to demote the guy.

If there is one constant of this postseason, it is the disregard managers have shown for the past accomplishments and current salaries of formerly elite players. And the results should only serve to embolden other managers who end up in similar situations.

The biggest shocker came from New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in Game 3 of the division series against Baltimore. The man who replaced A-Rod, Raul Ibanez, went on to hit the game-tying and game-winning home runs.

Then there is San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who relegated two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum to the bullpen in favor of Madison Bumgarner for the World Series. Not only did Bumgarner throw seven shutout innings in Game 2, but Lincecum gave the Giants 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief in Game 1.

And lastly, there is Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who recently yanked former All-Star closer Jose Valverde from the ninth-inning role. That allowed for the emergence of Phil Coke, who saved two games in the ALCS and has yet to give up a run in 7 2/3 innings this postseason.

It's not a stretch to say that if these managers didn't have the gall to tell their fallen stars to take a seat, their teams might not have made it as far as they did. And make no mistake: It takes some nerve to make these kinds of moves.

Rodriguez, Lincecum and Valverde earned a combined $56 million this year. Demoting them is a tacit acknowledgment that they were grossly overpaid. And it's a slight that can poison the relationship between manager and player, not to mention manager and owner.

"It's one of your most difficult things you have to do as a manager, particularly when you're talking to a star player," Bochy said, "and you have to tell him that you're going to go another way as far as the postseason."

Postseason history is dotted with high-profile benchings and demotions. Yogi Berra, who was then the manager of the New York Mets, barely used Willie Mays during the 1973 World Series. But by then, Mays was 42 and had become such a shell of himself, the move didn't cause much of a stir.

Much harder is benching a player who hasn't come to terms with his diminished state. Pete Rose was reportedly furious when Philadelphia Phillies manager Paul Owens left him out of the starting lineup for Game 3 of the 1983 World Series.

Ultimately, a manager needs to have a viable replacement. Bochy could justify leaving Barry Zito, he of the $126 million contract, off the Giants' 2010 postseason roster because of the depth of his rotation. Girardi's move worked because he had a hitter with 271 career home runs on his bench. Valverde was so bad that Leyland didn't have much of a choice.

But every manager can find some reason to stick with a slumping star in the postseason. And they often do. The common explanation is something akin to what Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said about slugger Josh Hamilton, who had a dismal end to his season, before the AL wild card game.

"He can take a ballgame over," Washington said, "and you never know what day that is going to be."

But there comes a time when a manager can no longer afford to keep waiting for that day to arrive. This year as much as ever, managers are telling their stars: Time's up.

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